The world is moving at a fast pace and with it is the use of technology and other devices. However no matter how clever and dangerous the world and its people become, there is one thing that can never be sped up and that is childhood. Children everywhere are innocent, naïve and extremely trusting. They are unaware of the dangers and perils that await them in this world and yet many of them face extremely traumatizing and abusive situations that take away their innocence much before they are due to become adults.
In order to prevent and save children from these very situations and these very people. The first and foremost step for this prevention is making people of power responsible for any and all children. People of power mean parents, guardians, caretakers, teachers and any other adults or even youngsters who find any activities or behaviors around them suspicious are required to report these activities to the authorities and play their part in taking care of children.
Child abuse laws vary from state to state but generally the trend in Maryland is the laws stated under the family law. Abuse is constituted by physically or mentally harming a child as well as sexually abusing them. Social services are responsible to deal with these kinds of offences and they are the ones who have to be reported to in case if any person want to report suspicious activity.
The catch in these laws is that there is a fine line between parenting and disciplining and child abuse. Every household is different and every household’s rules are different. The way parents prefer to teach and discipline their kids varies from house to house and some parents are arguably stricter than others. In these cases the law needs to establish was constitutes abuse and what doesn’t because if they fail to correctly identify the situation they may cause one of the following two possibilities: either taking a children away from their loving and healthy household or leaving a child in a traumatizing and abusive household. Both these possibilities are not in the favor of the wellbeing of the child and hence need to be prevented as much as possible.
The state has laid down certain characteristics that can be hints of abuse and can be used onlookers to recognize as proof of child abuse. These characteristics first of all include and physical indications like markings, scar , bruises etc. Then come the mental and emotional characteristics which although are arguably hard to spot and to be sure of, however behavioral experts like teachers and coaches are very likely to able to spot such behavioral irregularities and consequently take appropriate action. Appropriate actions not only limits itself to informing social services and law enforcement authorities but also to try to find out the issues behind the displayed characteristics as well as to try to remove the child from those harmful environments. This can mean something as simple as making children stay for after school activities if a teacher suspects child abuse from the child’s parents.